Miami Heat president Pat Riley feels the team addressed one of its main weaknesses with their selection of Cleveland State point guard Norris Cole. The Heat selected Cole with the 28th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft, after trading their 31st pick, a future second round pick, and some cash for the rights.
Cole had a successful college basketball career at Cleveland State, averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.3 rebounds in his senior year. Cole also showed flashes of greatness in his college career, dropping 41 points and 20 rebounds in a game and joining the 40-20 club (reigning NBA Slam Dunk champion Blake Griffin is the only other player that can boast of a similar achievement in the past 15 years).
With Cole's addition to the Heat roster, Miami now has a true point guard. Cole's ability to rebound the ball will be beneficial to the Heat, who at times struggled on the boards during the 2011 post-season. If Miami's training staff is able to help Norris develop his three point shot, Heat fans might be in for a treat.
"We're happy with the pick," Riley said on a conference call with reporters. "We feel it's a perfect situation for us. There was a consensus that this was the player that we wanted to take. We didn't want to get left at the altar. Did we have him ahead of [Kyrie] Irving, [Brandon] Knight or [Kemba] Walker? No. But in our minds, he was ahead of the other guys. His ability to be a game-changer and a pace-changer is what we wanted and that's what we got in him."
I have to give the Miami Heat organization credit for their selection in the 2011 NBA Draft. The Heat still need another reliable big man besides Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem, and they'll probably be taking care of that next.
David is a Miami Heat fan that has followed the team for 15 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter.
Sources:
Tom Haberstroh, "Pat Riley happy to get Norris Cole" ESPN.com
Player and game information from espn.com
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